Hey ya'll
I had a very long talk with Terri yesterday and it did me a world of good. It really got me thinking about how its the little things that happen to us, things that we would never have even thought about much less treasured that make us who we are. For example, the people we know in high school and the teachers we had. We were talking specifically about the way we are now, our beliefs and I suggested how it had in many ways depended on the people we mixed with as children back in school. It all started when we were reading Khai Wen's facebook status. Well, actually Terri first saw it and she forwarded it to me. Well long story short, let's just say that Khai Wen and her friends were being a little bit too hypocritical with their stand on a certain group of individuals (i.e claiming not to judge them and yet calling them sinners...stuff like that) and it came to the point where I told Terri that it is impossible to argue with some people and that at times we have to turn the other cheek when she wondered that since we are all technically people, humans ... why do our beliefs vary so differently from one person to another. In tthat sense, as she had pointed out, we've gotten over sexism (legally) and we've (for the better part) gotten over racism...so why does this ISSUE still prove to be such a prevalent "problem" in society when people like her and myself (and any huge number of you out there I"m sure) have proven that it really isn't.
And that's when it started, that I told her it was probably because of the people we knew back as children that did it. It definitel wasn't our upbringing - after all such topics were hardly palatable discussion matter at the dinner table back then at our age ... or even now - but I told her that maybe it was because she knew me...or R...or any number of people that actually started her down the path of acceptance at a young age and how because of that her attitude has rubbed off on her younger siblings as well. And the more we talked about it, the more it became evident how everything had actually happened for a reason. That even the smallest things, fights you had in high school, best friends you've lost, people you've trusted, those whom you've betrayed, all play a part in shaping you as the person you are now.
Everything taught us a little bit of what it was to become who we are today. And I pointed out my numerous experiences with bullying and Terri wondered if it wasn't that they taught me about the kinds of people I didn't need to make like me in life... and while she does have a point, I think that the lesson goes much deeper than that. Sure my bullies taught me that there are some people that I just don't have to try pleasing...but they taught me something even better and that is the kind of person that I have to become and the kind of person I have to be and well, I guess they did do me some good after all despite themselves. And maybe if you see how the smallest of actions can cause the most significant of ripples in an individual's life, well... just imagine how much the ripples from such a significant life changing event for an individual can have on the world. And that's really the fact of things isn't it? That our actions always effect those around us and that we are all connected in that way which means that little by little, we can always make a difference.
"I can't wait to start raising my kids right" Terri said. "And for them to raise their's right as well," I thought. And although we probably won't be seeing any difference in my lifetime, I can hardly wait.
PEACE OUT
